Jun 28 Cold Call Distributors

Start looking for a distributor.

To begin with, find movies of a similar type and see who distributed those.

If you're making a slick investigative exposé about animal rights, then discover who distributed the last big movie of that type.

If you've made a small VHS-styled experimental film, then find out who's distributing the ones you admire.

Next, make an auxiliary list of another 9 or so distributors.

These are our backups - although it's likely a "backup" may become our distributor.

Write to the head of the company.

It's best if you can coax-out a mutual friend or interest that could help you.

Perhaps the owner of the local movie theater knows somebody you can contact.

Or the executive director of a local movie group.

If you can't discover anything mutual it's not the end of the world.

Everybody starts somewhere.

And remember: you have your energy and enthusiasm.

Walt Disney started just like this.

In fact, he's the inspiration for this post.

When Walt semi-finished one of his first original Alice in Wonderland cartoons back in 1922, Disney being the young entrepreneur that he was, contacted a New York based distributor (from Kansas!).

He did have a mutual contact via the theater owner (Milton Field) who was playing some of his promotional cartoon shorts locally.

In the cold letter to the distributor, Walt writes:

"[I've] just discovered something new and clever in animated cartoons! ...a new idea that will appeal to all classes and is bound to be a winner... a clever combination of live characters and cartoons..."